January 31, 2021
Mark 1:21-28
One Little Victory
Lectionary 4B – 4th Sunday after the Epiphany – January 31, 2021
First Lutheran Church – Winnipeg, MB
Well, my cruelest month has come to an end.
January 31st marks something of a milestone for me every year,
and for many others who suffer from mental illness.
As I write this, it happens to be Bell Let’s Talk Day, a campaign to raise awareness of
and combat the stigma around mental illness in Canada.
I remember telling you recently that I was so happy to flip the calendar over to 2021 and
put 2020 behind us.
And yet, that new calendar always begins with my “cruelest month.”
And it’s not like the awfulness of 2020 has suddenly disappeared with the flip of a calendar.
COVID-19 is still ravaging the world and therefore isolation,
illness and death are still ravaging billions of lives.
Death seems more prominent than ever.
Systemic racism, poverty, and environmental destruction show no signs of abating.
And, of course, physical and mental illness still create a great deal of brokenness.
When Jesus appears, it is as if the calendar has been flipped over for the world.
At last, Jesus announces at the very beginning of Mark’s Gospel,
“The reign of God has come near.”
Healing, peace, and justice have come near!
This is good news!
But then, immediately he encounters a man with an unclean spirit.
Yes: he heals the man, but there are many things for him – and for us – yet to do.
Many unclean spirits remain.
Now: we are not totally clear what it was that man was dealing with that day.
Perhaps it was mental illness.
But whether it was that or demon possession or epilepsy or something else doesn’t really matter:
it was preventing the man from being free, free to become who God made him to be.
Stated that way, the term “unclean spirit” doesn’t seem so foreign any more.
It was preventing him from having his own voice as the unclean spirit spoke for him.
It prevented him from having control over his own body as it convulsed him.
It prevented him from community as it isolated him.
And it prevented him dignity as it dehumanized him. (Osvaldo Vena at workingpreacher.com)
Osvaldo Vena continues:
Some of us might even name the current pandemic and its global effects as just such a “demon.” A huge, powerful force that robs us of life. Of loved ones. Of community. Of safety. Whether we regard such forces as spiritual, psychological, biological, metaphorical, or cultural, this Gospel story tells us true things about how “unclean spirits” affect and manipulate our souls. (ibid.)
I love the way he phrases that – for we all know what he is talking about.
So here comes Jesus, and in Mark’s Gospel the overriding theme is Jesus’ battle with these
unclean spirits – with all that de-humanizes in any way,
with all that gets in the way of us – of humanity, all together,
of human community – being all that God created us to be.
So here comes Jesus, and what does he do?
He makes a beginning.
He heals one man.
The calendar has flipped over and he doesn’t fix everything: he fixes one thing.
The thing is, you might ask:
since Jesus came so long ago announcing and inaugurating God’s reign,
why are we still having to deal with unclean spirits 2000 years later?
Christians have been struggling with this since the beginning.
And the only true answer – as in much of Christian life, I guess – is, “I don’t know.”
Why are some people, our society, our world still subject to forces that possess and dehumanize?
I don’t really know.
When Jesus came, his ministry didn’t change the whole world,
as David Lose points out this week.
But his ministry in this story did change this one man’s world.
It’s One Little Victory.
And then Jesus moves on down the road and wins one more little victory.
And then Jesus recruits some more help and moves on down the road yet again and
wins yet one more little victory.
And then Jesus recruits you and me and all our brothers and sisters at First Lutheran Church and
wins yet more little victories.
Every time we hand food to a hungry person at food bank, it’s one little victory.
Every time a person is welcomed and treated with dignity the same as anyone else,
it’s one little victory.
Every time strangers become friends at First Lutheran Church, it’s one little victory.
Every time refugees are sponsored by us, it’s one little victory.
Every time a child feels safe and loved just as they are at FLC, it’s one little victory.
Every time we make a phone call and check in with one another these days, it’s one little victory.
Okay: we haven’t changed the whole world.
But we have changed many, many people’s worlds.
Just like Jesus did on that day in Capernaum long ago.
As Dr. Lose says, what Mark chooses to highlight at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry is
“a single act of resistance and healing.”
I like the way he phrases that too.
A single act of resistance and healing. One Little Victory.
Some of the hope we have as Christians is that the victory of the resurrection is a pledge of
final victory when we are assured that all will be well and when the forces that
dehumanize will be gone forever.
In the meantime, we participate determinedly in one little victory after another,
victories of life and love and dignity and healing, knowing that they matter,
trusting that no act of love is ever wasted in God’s economy,
for love never ends: it is eternal.
So just make one little victory today – and then celebrate it and give thanks.
Amen
Pastor Michael Kurtz
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